Why 'Born on Earth'?

Where are you from? A basic question that never requires much thought. Yet when you reflect on it, we are all from precisely the same place – this magnificent planet we call Earth.

This is our home! Our home is something we care about, keep clean, and cherish. Our larger home - the Earth is really no different. That is what Born on Earth Moms is all about....we believe that all moms have a vital role to play in nurturing our home, our Earth. Just as we create happy homes in our houses, we can extend our impact out to help sustain a happy planet.

We (Jode and Jules) are two sun-kissed moms living abundant lives with our families in the California bounty. We are both profoundly inspired by our boisterous children and the nature that surrounds us – green valleys, blue oceans, giant redwoods, pristine valley oaks, wetlands, farmlands, vineyards, deserts, beaches. We are writing this blog to share our journey – as we evolve our lifestyles to become fully eco. And while we are learning to become highly skilled eco-moms, we are also embarking on an exciting experiment – the two eco-moms are becoming mompreneurs…building a totally sustainable, eco-chic, kids clothing line called (guess...) "Born on Earth".☺ So join us on our journey – of becoming eco-mommies and eco-mompreneurs. Welcome to Born on Earth!☺

Attoning for Eco-Sins

naughty

OK I need to make a confession....while i am passionate about living in harmony with nature and treading lightly on the earth, on a daily basis I commit a significant eco-sin that needs to evolve and change. Basically, I'm a fashion/brand/clothing addict. I LOVE clothes. I love stylish, fashionable, edgy clothes. This fact is profoundly inconsistent with my desire to be eco-friendly, and I've always felt that the two are incompatible. Almost like having a split personality...love the earth...love clothing? What's a girl to do?

eco-schlepping

So, I have a plan to change and attone...Jules and I are headed to LA for a few days for Born on Earth Kids, and during the trip I plan to scope out a few fabulous eco buys for myself. The eco-fashion world is really heating up - West Third in LA is supposed to have some hot eco-boutiques, including Vie, Romp & Evita Co-op. Check out this LA Times article about the boutiques!

It is so exciting to see that we no longer have to sacrifice style for eco-consciousness!

Creating an Eco-Mom Lifestyle

Since I left Microsoft a couple of years ago, I have been focused on learning and acting to change my ways to become more sustainable. In my family, we are far from perfect, but we have made a lot of progress through simple actions. Here are a few simple steps we have taken:





1. Drive less - we use our bikes, our feet, our pedi-cab way more than we used to. Jacques bought me a shopping basket for my bike, so I can now bike to our local organic grocer - the 'Green Grocer'! Biking is not only eco-friendly but it is spiritually refreshing and great exercise.
2. Turn the lights off - just like putting my seatbelt on in the car is a habit, so is turning off the lights now. And of course, changing out the lightbulbs to CFLs is critical.
3. Waste less - we have dramatically minimized our waste by learning to recycle, reuse & compost. Composting is fascinating - if you are composting now you know what i mean...how in the heck do all those nasty food scraps turn into beautiful dark soil? the miracle of nature.







our cute compost bin and our double recycler cabinet
4. Put a sweater on - instead of turning the heat on all the time, we wear more clothes in the winter, add blankets, have family fires.
5. Consume less - It is so easy to just keep accumulating 'stuff' - toys, clothes, products, etc. So we are trying to reduce buying, start mending/reusing/etc. and are loving hand-me-downs.

6. Eat local and organic - we eat pretty much 100% organic, and as local as we can. We go to the farmer's markets, the 'Green Grocer', and we have our own veggies and fruit growing in our yard.

my meyer lemon plant

7. Eat less beef - the environmental impact of feed-lotted cattle is absolutely devastating, so we avoid eating beef as much as possible.
8. Don't use harsh chemicals - for cleaning, we use all eco-friendly products. We love Meyers cleaning products (see my other post on that).
9. Green your home while you make home improvement choices - we remodeled our home a year ago and made a lot of green decisions: bamboo floors (renewable resource), the most incredible organic paints (YoLo Colorhouse), sustainable decking materials (from recycled Milk bottles), and sustainable fencing from LifeTime Lumber.

These changes have not felt like these sacrifices at all - rather and it has been fun to make these small but important changes in our family life.